Acquired Taste
by Joey Hirasame
Summary: A collection of one-shots. They do happen in the same storyline but I wouldn't call them a concrete story. Roxiri is the centric, but there may be more. AU


"What the hell are you smiling for?" Completely out of nowhere, a book hit right on the back of Roxas' head, so hard that his face almost meets with his desk. The blonde glared at the red head seating just behind him, while she just gave him the finger.

"How would you know if I was smiling or not?" Kairi rolled her eyes, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"You've been staring that way for a whole hour now." She growled, looking in said direction. Roxas folowed her eyes to the perky blonde sitting at the front row of the class. "Another hour, and we'd all be drowning in your drool."

"I wasn't looking at her." It was a lie, but he wouldn't admit it. He knew how Kairi could be when he paid any kind of attention to other girls. Without any warnings, the same book hit him right in the same spot. "Would you quit it?"

"Would you stop looking at that whore?" She snarled, nodding towards said blonde, again. Roxas turned in her direction, only to spot her talking to a green-eyed boy. "Not like she would ever be interested in you, anyway. She's got the whole package right there."

"They're not together." Roxas stated, without any hint of doubt in his voice, which made Kairi think.

"You've been talking to her, haven't you?"

"What's it to you?" SMACK "I said quit it!"

"Hey, both of you back there!" The teacher's voice echoed through the entire room, causing both of them to flinch. "If you're oh so desperate to chit-chat, you can stay in the hall for the rest of the class."

"Sir, we weren't-"

"To the hall, I said!" Roxas glared at his partner in crime for a second, over his shoulder, before standing up and walking to the door. He could feel everyone's eyes digging holes on his skin, including Namine's. They both exchanged a brief look, in which Roxas smiled embarrased, before Kairi kicked Roxas' butt towards the door.

And now here they stood, in utter- almost graveyard-like- silence. Kairi yawned loudly, stretching her arms to the roof.

"Maybe I should start my day with a cup of coffee. I've heard-"

"Would you shut up already?" He roared, cutting the read-head midsentence. "I'm getting sick of this crap, Kairi. I really am."

"And what would that 'crap' be, Roxy?" She teased, wearing an amussed smile on her face. But even then, Roxas kept glaring at her, sharply. Almost like if he wanted for her to bust out in flames.

"The kind of crap that makes everyone stay away from you." He knew he shouldn't have brought that up, but by then, he have had enough. "Aside from me, no-one can stand your stupid tantrums and your mood and all that kind of shit you like to pull off. What you did in there was the kind of thing that makes every girl you know run away- that's the reason for you to have no girl friends. The reason for me to be your only friend since we were five. I have friends, Kairi. I have Ollete, and Hayner and Pence. I even dare to say that I'm friends with Namine."

"Who do you have, Kairi?" He hissed, standing just an inch from her face. "If I'm not there, who do you have?"

She just stood there, glaring back at him. After about thirty awkward seconds, Kairi brushed past him, storming down the hallway. Any other day, he would've followed her, to make sure she was alright and to make her come back to class. But not today. Thirty minutes passed, and it was time to get back in the room, but Kairi was nowhere to be found. Roxas waited for her a bit more, and then got inside.

The teacher had come in, and started giving her lecture, but he couldn't bring himself to listen. He couldn't even concentrate. He turned to look at the empty seat behind him, and every word he said to the red-head came back to haunt him. He sighed, and then stood up from his seat, gaining everyone's attention again, including the teacher's. Roxas didn't say a word, he just walked to the door and out of the room.

"How the hell did you find me?"

It wasn't that hard, actually. The only place in Twilight Town that would be safe to hide, completely parent-free and with no risk of being caught out of class, was the top of the Clock Tower.

"Where else could you be at? You can't go home because Axel would turn you in." Roxas sat right beside her, at the edge of the tower, both of them staring at the sky. "Listen, I-"

"I got Ice Cream." Said Kairi, bringing out of her purse two of the frozen desserts, wrapped neatly in plastic. Roxas arched a brow and took one of them, hesitantly.

"Eh... thanks. I guess..." He whispered, and then unwrapped the popsicle to give it a slight lick. He glanced at Kairi; eating her ice cream while staring at the sky, as if nothing ever happened. "Kairi..."

"Uh huh?"

"How did you know I would come for you?" Kairi just shruged and kept her eyes away from the blonde boy.

"I didn't. But I had this feeling that I had to buy two." After that vague explanation, Roxas decided to ask no more, as he would not get a clearer answer, knowing Kairi as well as he did. "Why did you come? You're missing class."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." Kairi turned to look straight into Roxas' eyes, smirking playfully.

"Geez, Roxas. You think I'm gonna jump off the tower just because you were a bitch to me?" She laughed a little, causing Roxas to groan in response. It was so typical of her; to twist his worries into some kind of joke. "Not that anything you said wasn't true..."

"I didn't mean to-"

"You did, Roxas." She cut him, flashing a weak smile. "I know people don't like me, and I understand every reason they have to. Is just that..." She sighed softly, to then bite her Ice Cream. "Hearing you voice my thoughts was... shocking, I think."

"Kairi..." He whispered, and Kairi turned to look at him. Roxas took her chin softly between his fingers, forcing her to look straight into his blue eyes. "You don't need other people to like you. I'm here and I'm never leaving you."

"What assures me that? What makes you think one day you won't get tired and you'll run away from me?" She whispered, forcing the words through her throat. She was begining to sob, but he forced herself to calm down. She wasn't one of those girls who cried over everything, and sure as hell she wasn't going to cry over this. "I'll end up annoying you just like-"

She was cut, silenced like a grave, by a pair of lips. A small peck on her lips was all Roxas needed to scare away all of her doubts and fears. They both lost themselves into each others eyes for a moment, analizing what had just happened.

"...Your Ice Cream is melting." At first, those words made no sense to Roxas. But then he felt something sticky covering his left hand: the whole thing had melted into a Sea-Salt milky mess. Kairi stood up and offered her hand to him, who took it reluctanly. "Let's go get you some more."

Kairi was something that had to grow on you. An acquired taste, if you will.


End file.
